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Posts Tagged ‘alabama’

  1. Art, Cooking, and Summer

    July 12, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    Cooking truly is an art form.

    Art typically has to do with taking what we already know exists and replicating, altering it, until some kind of expression is achieved through the interplay of balance and dynamics that are discerned; art, in many ways, is a science because of this.

     

    The real issue is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but perhaps we foodies should say something like, “Taste in the mouth of the eater.”

     

    I can make a perfectly delicious meal- one that I find to be good and flavorful- and someone else may think that the meal in question is too salty, not salty enough, too sweet, too bland, and so on down the list of possible criticisms.

     

    In my own experience, I can say that food should be presented in an aesthetic way, and that the aesthetic need not be extreme; simply choosing the correct color plate or bowl in which to present the food can entirely change the perception of it.

     

    Naturally, it’s probably best to go with the opposite of whatever the season is; in summer, serving foods in cool colors such as green and blue will give a sense of being refreshed and at peace in heat, and in winter, pinks, oranges, and reds will help warm your chilly bones.

     

    High Summer has fallen upon Alabama, and even though I’m sweating, I much prefer the heat in the air to the cold of winter.

    But more than that, I prefer when the seasons find their balance in Spring and Autumn, when the weather stays in the low 80s and is relatively mild. I can handle that.

     

    So it is with cooking. The Fried Rice Rampage had a short break yesterday but will be revived soon. I plan to master Fried Rice and then challenge other people to make better Fried Rice than I. The Shrimp Fried Rice turned out really nice, I think. My big issue now is trying to find balance between soft and crispy rice; I’m not sure which kind of Fried Rice I prefer. The crispier rice actually ends up tasting more savory, something I find interesting.

     

    Gigi’s been sick lately, but after eating my Shrimp Fried Rice, she perked right up. (Okay, that’s not quite how it happened, but I can dream.)

     

    Sometimes, I think that it’s too bad that I don’t eat meat; some of the recipes for various world cuisine require meat, and that would be an interesting flavor to add to the mix.

     

    During the 4th of July week, we had some of the Morning Star burgers, and Gigi had grilled one up, made a burger with all the works, and sliced it in half. I ate the half she didn’t want, and by God, it tasted like an actual, honest-to-goodness hamburger.

     

    My brother and I argued about this the other day because he said that he eats actual meat and that the Grillers do not taste like hamburger in any shape, form, or fashion; I retorted that any kind of veggie meat tastes like real meat in context, and that I had eaten the piece of Gigi’s burger and wouldn’t have believed someone if they had told me otherwise that it wasn’t an actual hamburger had I not known.

     

    Anyway, I think it would be fun to try making fried rice with some Soyrizo…if I can find any. I’ve only had it once, and I can’t remember where I found it, but it was spicy and mouth-watering.

     

    Tomorrow, I’ll try to post some pictures of my fried rice.

     

    Get your nosh on!

     

    Beaux

     

     

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  2. Art, Cooking, and Summer

    July 12, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    Cooking truly is an art form.

    Art typically has to do with taking what we already know exists and replicating, altering it, until some kind of expression is achieved through the interplay of balance and dynamics that are discerned; art, in many ways, is a science because of this.

     

    The real issue is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but perhaps we foodies should say something like, “Taste in the mouth of the eater.”

     

    I can make a perfectly delicious meal- one that I find to be good and flavorful- and someone else may think that the meal in question is too salty, not salty enough, too sweet, too bland, and so on down the list of possible criticisms.

     

    In my own experience, I can say that food should be presented in an aesthetic way, and that the aesthetic need not be extreme; simply choosing the correct color plate or bowl in which to present the food can entirely change the perception of it.

     

    Naturally, it’s probably best to go with the opposite of whatever the season is; in summer, serving foods in cool colors such as green and blue will give a sense of being refreshed and at peace in heat, and in winter, pinks, oranges, and reds will help warm your chilly bones.

     

    High Summer has fallen upon Alabama, and even though I’m sweating, I much prefer the heat in the air to the cold of winter.

    But more than that, I prefer when the seasons find their balance in Spring and Autumn, when the weather stays in the low 80s and is relatively mild. I can handle that.

     

    So it is with cooking. The Fried Rice Rampage had a short break yesterday but will be revived soon. I plan to master Fried Rice and then challenge other people to make better Fried Rice than I. The Shrimp Fried Rice turned out really nice, I think. My big issue now is trying to find balance between soft and crispy rice; I’m not sure which kind of Fried Rice I prefer. The crispier rice actually ends up tasting more savory, something I find interesting.

     

    Gigi’s been sick lately, but after eating my Shrimp Fried Rice, she perked right up. (Okay, that’s not quite how it happened, but I can dream.)

     

    Sometimes, I think that it’s too bad that I don’t eat meat; some of the recipes for various world cuisine require meat, and that would be an interesting flavor to add to the mix.

     

    During the 4th of July week, we had some of the Morning Star burgers, and Gigi had grilled one up, made a burger with all the works, and sliced it in half. I ate the half she didn’t want, and by God, it tasted like an actual, honest-to-goodness hamburger.

     

    My brother and I argued about this the other day because he said that he eats actual meat and that the Grillers do not taste like hamburger in any shape, form, or fashion; I retorted that any kind of veggie meat tastes like real meat in context, and that I had eaten the piece of Gigi’s burger and wouldn’t have believed someone if they had told me otherwise that it wasn’t an actual hamburger had I not known.

     

    Anyway, I think it would be fun to try making fried rice with some Soyrizo…if I can find any. I’ve only had it once, and I can’t remember where I found it, but it was spicy and mouth-watering.

     

    Tomorrow, I’ll try to post some pictures of my fried rice.

     

    Get your nosh on!

     

    Beaux

     

     

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  3. Fried Rice Rampage Continues in Slocomb, Alabama

    July 9, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    The recipe for fried rice has now evolved. Instead of simply making Golden Fried Rice, I’m now making Shrimp Fried Rice. 

    This is exactly what it sounds like. The recipe’s essentially the same with the addition of carrots and shrimp along with a reduction of egg.

    Make sure that you have enough oil when making fried rice because without a sufficient amount, the rice will quickly become unhappy.

    The shrimp I’ve add to the fried rice is simple, frozen salad shrimp that I’ve defrosted in a cup of water and drained. Though the younger sibling told me a while back that fried rice is technically made by cooking each item, then removing it, and then adding it all together again, other recipes and websites emphasize that cooking all the ingredients together allows the flavor to really come out.

    I hope one day soon to get actual garlic and ginger root to use.

    Today, I finally gave in and tossed in the soy bacon bits to the mix after I had actually prepared the rice. They’re all right, but I’m sure it would’ve been better if I had actually made such an attempt to cook them. Maybe I can get the soy bacon and try cooking that along with the fried rice one day.

    I’ve not acquired oyster sauce or fish sauce yet, so the jury will remain out on their relative effects to fried rice.

    These past few times, I’ve reduced the amount of egg I added to the fried rice. I think my preference is having less egg and not more because though the flavor isn’t altered, too much egg makes the fried rice look strange. I

    Pictures coming soon!

    Get your nosh on!

    Beaux

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  4. Pizza Hut Review, Dothan, Alabama

    March 8, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    On the same night Caleb and I had Sonic, we also went to Pizza Hut…instead of going to the movies.

    I ordered a cheese personal pan pizza, something I haven’t eaten since I was a kid. The quality was excellent; Pizza Hut’s sauce tastes better than most of the pizza sauces out there, oddly enough.

     

    Pizza Hut did a great job keeping up with our constantly fluctuating group of late-comers, and I’m very appreciative that they dealt with us so gracefully. Our tickets were split, our orders complicated, and the server took good care of us all.

     

    This Pizza Hut is located on Highway 231 near the Northside Wal-Mart. I give them high marks in atmosphere/decor, food, and service.

     

    Get your nosh on, and stop in at your local Pizza Hut with its affordable prices and quality food!

     

    Beaux

     

     

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  5. How to Freeze Rice: A Van Tilden Video

    January 24, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    Check it out! 

    Happy Chinese New Year while Van Tilden teaches us to freeze rice!

    Get your nosh on!

    Beaux

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  6. Soon to Review Ichiban Sushi in Dothan, AL

    January 8, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    Today is my friend Chris’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Chris!

    Tonight, the plan is to go to a new restaurant in town called Ichiban to celebrate Chris’s birthday. Ichiban is, as I understand it, a Chinese restaurant that also features a sushi bar and hibachi.

    Ichiban is the Japanese word for “Number One.” So, if they’ve named their restaurant “Number One,” then they must have confidence in their ability to make good sushi; let’s hope that when I write my restaurant review tomorrow that this proves to be true.

    How’s everyone enjoying the New Year? January’s turned out to be just delightful for me. No zombies, nothing! Even the star-gazing night in the cold was wonderful.

     

    Lately, I’ve been reading a book called The Teahouse Fire. I bought it for Gigi’s birthday back in 2009, and she never read it. I think that’s partially because I took it to my room after she didn’t read it for so long and planned to read it myself. Well, I finally picked up the book, and it’s amazing; the Japanese tea ceremony is one aspect of Japan into which I have never really looked deeply, oddly enough.

    My friend Drew (famous for his bread on this blog) believes that tea can cure many ills, both of body and soul, and having much tea at Kelly’s Deck, I can attest that there have even been times when I had sinus headaches that tea cured it.

    I asked Gigi last night if we had a tea kettle around the house, and I made the suggestion that having one would be useful. Our family could do with a swap to green tea instead of coffee, I think, at least on most days. The health benefits are immense, they say.

    One night, I would like to have a star-gazing party, or a moon-viewing party, as is sometimes done in Japan. But I also understand this happens most frequently in Japan in the Autumn. So perhaps we can set aside Winter to do star-gazing instead?

    What does everyone think? What kind of foods might one eat at a star-gazing party?

    Get your nosh on!

    Beaux

     

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  7. Of Haiku and Food

    January 8, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    Haiku is a traditional Japanese style of poetry that features an arrangement of 5 syllables, followed by 7 syllables, followed by 5 more syllables. The poetry is most often seasonal.

    Lately, I’ve taken to writing haiku myself, and so I think that a daily feature of the blog is now going to be “haiku a day” instead of the Apocalypse files.

    Of course, I’ll naturally post the English translation for you as well, so have no fear!

    Today’s haiku is the experience I had driving to the store. The weather is cool, almost spring-like, though I had the distinct impression of summer on the way to the store, oddly enough. I’m quite happy that our Alabama winter has been so fair and warm, though I wouldn’t complain if it were slightly cooler.

    Today’s haiku!

     

    まぶしい日
    雲と光の
    遊びかな

    “The dazzling sun
    Behold, the clouds and the light
    Play together well!”

    mabushii hi
    kumo to hikari no
    asobi kana

    My English translations are not going to be word-for-word; indeed, Japanese and English will never meet in that manner, and so I will try to translate the underlying feeling of the haiku.

     

    Get your nosh on.

    Beaux

     

     

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  8. Christmas Carol-icious, Part 2

    December 5, 2011 by The Yum Yum

     

    WHAM!

    Surprised, aren’t you?

    Now that the holidays are here, and the weather’s turned cooler (it’s actually 75º today), it’s time for SAD to kick in for us all. SAD is an acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder. Translated into everyday people speak, it means that if we don’t get enough sunlight during winter, we start feeling bad.

    Being the vampire-in-training that I am, I abhor the sun on most days. Most days, not all days.

    But before we jump too far down that rabbit hole, let’s get back to some CHRISTMAS CAROLS!

    My next favorite (not second favorite, just next in the series of equally favorite songs) Christmas song is *drum roll please* “What Child is This?”

    “What Child is This?” is sung to the tune of another famous song, Greensleeves, but this wouldn’t be the first time in history that one song’s melody was replaced with a differently themed set of lyrics. Consider our national anthem- it’s actually based on the tune of an Irish pub song. I mean I love America and all, but you have to wonder if the Founding Fathers weren’t drunk when they did a lot of things they did.

    (One was drunk when he made the famous quote, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Yes. Totally drunk. Great quote, hilarious history. The more you know!)

    I probably belong with England more than with the USA anyway. I could get used to tea and crumpets and fish and chips.

    But, as with most things, Ye Olde Greate Britain is most likely highly Americanized anyway, and walking into a McDonald’s where someone chews their consonants is not my idea of visiting a different culture.

    Good grief, what happened to the FOOD aspect of this blog? I seem to never cook anymore. I did make pierogies again the other night, but that hardly counts as cooking.

    Inevitably, though, I have the issue of using the kitchen here because when I do, everyone gravitates to it. It’s as though the entire family forgets that we even have a kitchen until I walk in there to prepare something, then every man, woman, child, cat, dog, and goat of the household goes, “OH-BOY-WE-HAVE-A-KITCHEN-LET’S-GET-IN-THERE!” as if it would disappear if they didn’t.

    And it’s not just a quick walk-through, oh, no! It’s a three-act play featuring an orchestra and a ballet.

     

    Veggie Table wants me to post more on Baconnaise. We’ll get around to that in tomorrow’s edition! For now, enjoy Josh Groban’s rendition of “What Child is This?”

    Have an EGG-cellent day!

     

     

    Beaux

     

     

     

     

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  9. Dressing! Oyster Stew! Pierogies! Mediterranean Restaurant! Sandwiches! GO!

    November 29, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    So while at work, I suggest to my father that perennial, bone-warming, hearty recipe of oyster stew that we love so very much. One of my five Youtube videos actually covers the oyster stew, and in the end, I had to edit the recipe even more because I messed it up in the video. Or maybe that was the vegetarian chili. Anyway, my cooking skills remind me of what Gigi taught us so well in the 90s: if you can open a can and dump it in a pot and cook it on high, then do so. Of course, she was also raising two children at home while raising children of sorry parents while simultaneously trying to educate those who had legitimate learning disabilities and battling the fearsome bureaucracy of Geneva County whose sole and prime goal was to avoid lawsuits from any angle possible.

     

    In other words, open, dump, and heat was about the only thing she could muster at the end of the daily battle.

    Anyway, so I came home today after visiting the grocery store and enjoy the chilly weather and clear sky (I could even see the front moving in at a distance!), and lo and behold, Gigi has already cooked: dressing! Biscuits! A ham (I think!)

    Her dressing turned out absolutely perfect! Except for the putting of eggs in the dressing, which I don’t personally like, but I’m not complaining so much because the rest of the dressing turned out very moist and absolutely perfect. I walked in Bapaw’s bedroom and told him to get the dressing ASAP because it was perfect and wouldn’t be around long.

    So perfect did Gigi prepare her dressing that, in fact, I didn’t have to add anything to it. Typically, I fiend for salt and add salt to almost anything I eat. But tonight, oh, man, none of that was necessary! Imagine my surprise.

    Tomorrow night’s supposed to hit 30º around here, so I’ll be more than happy to go ahead with the oyster stew then. I also bought more pierogies…it was a great debate between a box of pierogies and a Totino’s pizza, and I do recall the past few times I’ve had Totino’s, they haven’t tasted very good- shock, shock, for me to say that a pizza doesn’t taste good!

    That’s what happens when you start eating things like bread, olives, and cheese on a habitual basis.

    Also, Veggie Table has informed us (and by us, I mean me and all my personalities…just kidding, I really mean me and her ever-growing fandom) of a BRAND NEW Mediterranean restaurant. We’ve been out of a good Mediterranean restaurant since LaLe shut down a few years ago. Lily, the owner of LaLe, is long gone to Texas, as you may have read in my former posts about the predecessor to LaLe, ReWired, and the predecessor to ReWired, Wired. Her leaving has left my Turkish rusty, le sigh.

     

    Perhaps, then, attending the NEW Mediterranean restaurant one night would be to my benefit, as I can write a review of it.

    We’ll see what happens.

    Stay tuned for the next great adventure in eating, along with news about local restaurants, new recipes, and whatever hilarity is sandwiched in between! And I’m so glad I’m talking about food, because had that been any other scenario, the pun would’ve gone right down into the gutter.

    Have an egg-cellent day!

    Beaux

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  10. Westboro Baptist Church Comes to Alabama!

    November 2, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    This was honestly only a matter of time.

    Yes, you heard me.

    The god-awful Westboro Baptist Church is coming to Alabama to protest the funeral of a local fallen marine.

    My heart goes out to the family, not only that they would have lost their child, their relative, their friend, and not only that the USA has lost a soldier, but that they would have the misfortunate of the Westboro Baptist Church and their like coming down to these parts.

    Personally, I think it’s a bad idea for the WBC to be here. 

    The good news is that a human shield is being formed to protect the area from the WBC. 

    Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

    I promise one day I’ll actually get back to writing about food. 

    Beaux

     

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